Tournament Preliminaries
Before The Real Battle Mina was lying back in a char, looking like she was ready to fall asleep as Marin was resting her head in her lap. She groaned, and yet it was rather cute. "Marin, I think I ate too much...can we call off the prelims until tomorrow?" Kisara, meanwhile, was still chowing down. It was...staggering to see a pure mage-type consume so much; to Saiyan levels. "...What? Why are you looking at me all like that? Mages gain more magical power and recharge their magical energy reserves through food with preservatives. In other words, the eterano converts the fat gained into magical power and that stacks on my magical potential." Truly, an effective counterbalance to her weak constitution if there was any. Melissa laughed at this. "...Sounds like some sort of excuse to eat more than all of us, don't you think? Be careful, or you'll get faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat..." She was snickering under her breath at Kisara's voracious appetite. Marin's eyes were flickering- she really was about to fall asleep in her beloved Mina's lap. "....Hnn, maybe we should go and enter the tournament now before we miss out..." Mina gently lifted her lover's head from her lap, before standing up and yawning. "I think it'll just take a cheap shot to knock me out of the ring, really." She groaned as everyone stood up. "If I fight any of you guys first, don't punch me in the gut." Kisara began getting...ideas. "Hmm...I may take advantage of that." She laughed heartily. "...Ahaha, I kid, I kid." It was pretty clear that she was lying through her teeth. She took one last bite of chicken, and stood up, stretching. "Let's get this show on the road- this is one thing I plan to WIN." Marin was confident here. "I'm sure if Mina can beat you once, she can beat you twice, Kisara." She stood up from her seat, yawning, before heading over to the preliminary room, dragging Mina with her as she walked. Melissa shrugged, before informing the others, "Uh, I'll be there in a minute. I have to check something." With that, she quickly ran behind a corner, picking up her cellphone. "Yeah, it's me. Got it. I've got our target in sight right now. There'll be a special surprise in the finals, that's for sure..." Her tone was completely unlike any side of her that she had shown before; cold and professional. "Alright! Attention everyone!" A man dressed in monks robes called everyone to attention. "With the hundred or so of you present here, we're going to have to divide these preliminary matches into brackets. So, please, choose a number!" Everyone proceeded to pick out a number, and they were called out. The monk drew the brackets onto a board, and they were seperated into four blocks. "Good!" Mina looked at the match listings, and was glad to see none of them weren't listed on the same block to fight each other. Kisara looked around- waiting for the first match to start. By the moment it did...in a few moments, the woman "Reisbyfe Strurmburg" knocked her opponent out straight away. Kisara commented, "Oh, I remember her. I met her once- nice enough, but kinda plain. Cides, she's not too strong- that guy must've been a total weakling." Because of her intelligence, Kisara could analyze the competitors and derive an expert victory strategy for herself. Marin wasn't too intimidated by the "strength" of her fellow competitors. "...They all look like half-jobs, really. I can easily see us wiping the floor with all of them." Melissa returned from masking her body in the shadows of the corner, quickly signing up to be on the block with the others with a gentle smile before she busted through the crowd of spectators to join the trio. "Er, sorry about that. I just got a phone call." Marin became suspicious. "...From whom?" Melissa immediately smiled and loudly declared, "I got a call from my mother! Apparantly, I get the next week off from my work as a humble pizza delivery girl! I am ESTATIC!" So hammy it was annoying. "That's good for you, Melissa!" Mina smiled broadly. "I'm sure you'll do good at it." After this, about 10-15 more matches passed without anything to be of interest to these girls, all of whom could wipe the floor with the competition and then some. "Sanger Fair! Please enter the ring!" The announcing monk called out and a hooded man drifted slowly into the ring, as a Tyrone Kingston entered the ring as his opponent. "FIGHT!" Tyrone jumped from side to side, grinning. "You're goin' down, buster." Sanger didn't even seem to register this man as a threat. He hadn't taken a stance, nor had he raised his guard. He didn't even seem to be in a speaking mood, as Tyrone made a lunge, sending a straight punch towards Sanger. "I think you should get it together." Sanger said, and with a motion that any normal human would miss, he pressed his palm ontot he top of Tyrone's fist, sending his blow downward into the ground, as opposed to toward his body. "You were finished the moment you stepped into the ring with me." He made several more swift movements, hitting what seemed to be pressure points in Tyrone's body, and the man fell unconcious. "And Sanger will be moving onto the first round tournament!" The monk called out. Kisara...was at a loss for words. This was the guy she saw earlier...and he was every bit as strong as the aura she percieved from him hinted. "...Wow. I...I just...I don't even know. This guy, he's unlike anything I've seen so far. As in, an actual threat. We should be best cautious of this guy; he smells like bad news." She could feel her skin crawl from just looking at Sanger- this was a very, bad sign. Melissa commented, "Oh hey, I know him. Well, sort of. I've seen him several times in numerous lands, but I've never personally interacted with the man myself." Her tone returned to it's normal laziness. "...But that's just me~" she yawned, attempting to take down suspicion. The man in the cloak spared a passing glance at the girls as he moved into the crowed and vanished. Mina frowned. Who was this man anyway? She didn't have time to mull it over, as the next few matches were already underway. Then, the monk called out a name familiar to the girls. "Kisara Daikoku! Please step into the ring! King Chappa! Please step into the ring!" Kisara looked unsure of this; hell, she wasn't sure whether or not this was a good or a bad thing. Given her frail body, this couldn't go well at all- though he didn't look too tough at all. "...Uh." She was expecting to go down in one hit. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to give up so easily as she stood into the ring. As Kisara swung her hand forward, King Chappa slid under the blast and crawled forwards on all fours in a similar manner to a spider at high speeds, before slamming into Kisara with tremendous force; the impact of which sent her hybrid barreling across the ring, tearing up the floor. Kisara quickly halted her flight, before standing to her feet. Before she had time to recover and launch a second attack, her foe was in front of her, slithering around her like a snake circling its prey; landing numerous powerful punches and kicks at speeds which were quite fast. His movement was apparent, as he rushed forwards like a rabid dog chasing its prey. As King Chappa declared, "Hasshu-Ken!", He moved his arms fast enough that he seemingly had eight of them, closing in on Kisara. However...Kisara's eyes flashed crimson in an instant; THUD! A white darkness had blasted him instantly; Kisara charged straight at him at ludicrous speeds that shouldn't be possibly with his broken-down state, the outcome of the fight had already been decided. Driving into his body left arm first, Kisara's single blow had the same force as a cannon shell as she blew him away, knocking him straight out of the ring. That crimson glow dissipated, as Kisara found herself staggering about, unable to comprehend what she just did; everyone else was shocked, as well. Marin was at a loss for words. "...How? How the heck did Kisara just kill him in one shot?" She was completely and utterly baffled by what she just saw. "A-and the winner is Kisara!" Announced a very stunned monk as they called in medical officials to scrape King Chappa off the ring floor and onto a stretcher. Mina frowned. "Kisara could have killed him had she not held back. She's much too brutal...that isn't the way we were taught to fight at all." Kisara clutched her head in pain- it felt like she was on fire and she couldn't think straight. "Owwww...." She continued to stagger about, before she managed to fall backwards on her ass, panting heavily. She couldn't quite understand what the hell just happened. "Uh...I win?" Marin sighed as she walked over to the downed Kisara, grabbing her by the arms and dragging her out of the ring, still completely mezmerised by what happened. "...Still, that was...ominous." After settling to watch a few more matches, the announcer called out Mina's name, and she stepped up into the ring, looking like this would be easy. Smiling, she waved energetically in Marin's direction, as if saying "Watch me!" Marin waved back in response, sporting a cheerful-looking smile. "Do your best!" She was so happy it was intoxicating. Mario Tonioli, Mina's opponent entered the ring. He was a man of great stature with a thick moustache, and work overalls. However, he was also well muscled and appeared to have endured heavy training before this. "What is this!?" The man complained, speaking in a very heavy accent. "I come here expecting a fight, and I see a child." He looked mutinous, as if he was going to demand another match-up. Mina frowned deeply. "Just come on already. I can't even use my full potential here, so I'll try hard not to break you." "B-break me!?" The man stuttered in rage. "How dare you!?" He lunged at Mina in blind anger, thrusting his giant first towards her gut. "So easy to bait..." She murmured, and her veins seemed to be visible on her skin as the man's blow connected. Despite what everyone had beene xpecting, she withstood it, standing her ground easily, much to Mario's surprise. "I didn't even need to buff myself for that..." This man had actually succeeded in irritating her, a rare feat for someone who put up with Kisara's bad attitude. Her veins relaxed, but then suddenly seemed visible again, especially on her neck and arms. "As a little farewell from this battle, let me show you what an actual punch feels like." With surprising speed, she slammed her small fist right into his stomach, winding the man and sending him skidding along the ground and out of the ring. "O-OUT OF BOUNDS! Mina is the winner!" The monk declared as Mina walked off the ring and back to her friends, looking rather worn despite taking no damage at all. While Mina was walking towards the group, Marin sprinted towards her and jump-hug-tackled her with all of her might, knocking her to the ground rather audibly; she was just excited that Mina won. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey~ Youdidityoudidityoudidityoudidityoudidit~~!!" Mina was currently in a combination of ectasty and pain. "Maaaaaaariiiiiiiin!" She whined. "You're hurting me right now!" Marin was now concerned; hopping back in fright as she grabbed Mina's arms, panicking, "...Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait! What do you mean!?" She was fussing too much. "It's fine Marin." Mina replied, stroking the girl's hair. "I was utilizing the Blut technique out there. It's a supplementary Quincy technique that allows us to enhance our defence or offence, but only one at a time." She looked at Kisara. "And no, before you ask Kisara, I actually didn't use this technique against you." She turned back to Marin. "However, it lets reishi flow through our veins to allow these enhancements. Kishi, living matter, and reishi, spiritual particles, don't mix well. This technique is best used by dead Quincy, not living ones." Kisara wasn't sure what to say here. Her bangs covered her eyes as a faint red glow was barely visible underneath them. "I see. That's certainly interesting." Her voice deepened for a moment as she whispered, "But, what, are you dense? Are you stupid or something? Who the hell do you think I am?" Naturally, nobody could hear her, but it was a sign of something ominous. After a while, a few more matches transpired, before Marin was called up to her match. She took this in stride, as she stood up to the arena. In front of her was a muscular-looking man who...honestly, didn't look too powerful at all. As soon the match started, it was over. Marin had released a powerful spinning kick that knocked him out of the arena easily. "OUT OF BOUNDS! Marin is the winner!" The monk exclaimed as Marin returned to her allies. Mina grinned and hugged Marin as she left the ring. "You did it! Though there's no real surprise. That was...probably the quickest match since Kisara's execution display!" Marin smiled at this; though, she watched Melissa quickly walk up to the couple in the corner of her eyes. Marin spat, "...The heck did you go?" She was suspicious. Melissa clasped her hands together and smiled. "...Oh, I had a bathroom break. No need to worry about me~" The monk, was astounded. "Muscle Champ, one of the last participants of the tournament, is nowhere to be found. So....the-the winner be default is Melissa Browning!" Melissa looked content. "Oho? Lucky me~" The rest of the matches played out fairly uneventful as the opponents finished each other off, leaving a total of nine contestants, which included Mina, Marin, Melissa, Kisara, and the mysterious Sanger Fair. The monk looked at the remaining contestants. "Congratulations for all of you on passing the preliminaries! The actual tournament will begin tomorrow, so, please rest and look sharp for your battles!" Mina sighed with relief. "We all made it..." She slipped her hand into Marin's. "Want to head to the hotel and..er...sleep?" This was obviously code. However, before Marin could actually reply, Sanger Fair, the mysterious cloaked man, approached Kisara, his face still covered by his hood. "Hello." He said simply, looking down at her. "Kisara Daikoku, wasn't it?" Kisara froze up- the man was radiating an aura that unlike anything else she had ever felt. "Uh....yeah. Well, there's something I really, really want to know." She paused, before yelling, "Who the HELL are you?!" "You know my name." The man replied, smiling under his hood. Whether it reached his eyes is unknown, they were hidden. He walked over to her, placing a hand over her head, and then removed it. "I see....as I suspected, you are quite interesting." He smiled again. "So much darkness. I look forward to fighting you, Kisara Daikoku. Crush your way through the tournament. Crush your opposition, crush your friends, and meet me in the finals. I will be your light." With these cryptic words, he faded, his smile being the last thing to vanish. Kisara was astonded by these words, unable to mutter anything than a shocked, "U-uh...crush everything...huh? Let's see what I can do, then..." Truth be told, she was as dumb as a brick at times; though she made up for it through sheer determination. Marin, of course, didn't even notice this- instead pretending as if Sanger never appeared. She took Mina's hand again, grasping it firmly. "Okay, now that's over with, let's go to the hotel~" she began to run off, with the other two just watching on at the young couple with bewildered expressions. FIN Category:Claw and Fang Tales